Avalanche
by Mitchekie
Summary: Amidst a catastrophic event in Yeti village, Fleem risks his life to save a left-behind Soozie.


**Disclaimer** : _Smallfoot_ and all its characters are © Warner Bros. Also, my apologies in advance if I got any of the names wrong. Pretty sure the little girl Yeti is named Soozie, but this may be incorrect. Her mother I named Purna (free cookie to those who get the reference), but if she actually has a cognomen that I'm not aware of then my bad.

 **Author's Note** : I don't know what the crap I'm doing. This is 100% fan service for myself because I was daydreaming to this song:

watch?v=8TJ0B2NXwjI

That goes with the rescue sequence. This one partners with the aftermath of the avalanche:

watch?v=UCWi5aFrU30

And this one completes the ending:

watch?v=NFx2UrO6Hs4

For some reason, I tend to find interest in fictional characters that are annoying and/or slightly self-centered. Perhaps this stems from the belief that there's good in everyone... if you dig down far enough. Being a jerk is not excusable, but everyone deserves love. In Fleem's case, what if he put aside his fears and risked life and limb to help someone else besides himself for a change?

* * *

 ** _November 12 - 3 Days Before "The Incident"_**

Soozie clutched her chest. She was huffing and puffing. Forty feet was a bit of a climb, even for a young Yeti such as herself. The air was a bit thinner up here besides, but she'd seen him wander off by himself looking in a most morose state, and she simply couldn't let that fly. So up she clambered...

Five more feet... Three more feet... _One more foot..._

 _Finally_. Soozie plopped onto the top of the ledge, looked back, and chuckled to herself. Even her best friend Ganie wouldn't have been able to climb this high! But as she turned around to face her next challenge, her smile fell.

There he was - perched precariously on the edge of a precipice, feet dangling over the edge and legs rocking back and forth as a child would do, muttering to himself. It sounded like a pretty intense conversation. Soozie almost felt bad for interrupting it as she tip-toed up to him in the thick snow and carefully, _veeeery_ carefully, poked him on the shoulder.

"AAAUGH!" Fleem yelped, his already dangerous position jeopardized as he almost fell over the edge in shock. "SOOZIE! What the f-frostbite, kid?! You wanna see me killed?!"

Not that it would have been a long fall. Fleem was exaggerating and he knew it, but he brushed down his fur indignantly regardless, a nervous habit he'd developed over the years and one that drove Kolka nuts. Sometimes he did it just for the pleasure of annoying her.

Though a little taken aback, Soozie couldn't help but chuckle at Fleem's ridiculous behavior. Even she knew that he was basically the definition of the word "dramatic" in their village.

"You're so dramatic," Soozie chortled.

"Yeah, well, you're annoying. You know that's like... twenty feet down, right?"

"Forty."

"Forty. Whatever. See? I could've died."

Soozie, still giggling, shuffled closer to him... then stopped. Fleem frowned. She shuffled a little closer... then stopped again. Shuffle. _Stop_. Shuffle. _Stop_.

 _What the heck was she doing...?_

Closer _... closer._ _ **PLOP**_ _._

To Fleem's great displeasure she was now sitting right next to him, smiling and staring intensely up into his face as if awaiting an answer to a most important question. It was almost laughable. The directness of her gaze drew his eyes open wider and wider the longer she looked. If anyone was to walk in on them right now they might think a very violent staring contest was taking place.

"... What?" Fleem finally inquired, blinking.

"Ha!" Soozie blurted out, pointing at him. "You lose!"

Fleem blinked again, nonplussed.

"Whut...?" he asked again.

"You're not supposed to blink! Duh! Ha-ha!"

Fleem shot her the most deadpan look he could possibly give before averting his gaze and rolling his eyes. So it _was_ a staring contest. But of course...

"Why do you come way up here?" the little Yeti inquired.

"That's... none of your business," he lilted, arms crossed indignantly.

"Why not?"

"Beee _cauuuuse_... it's not?"

"Why?"

"Becau-... I don't know, man. Why do you care?"

"Why don't you?"

"I..."

She had him there. Almost.

"Listen, you wouldn't understand, all right?"

"But don't you think they'll worry about you?"

"Nobody worries about me..."

"I do."

He paused, head slowly turning to look at her, at two questioning eyes that genuinely showed concern.

Something akin to guilt tugged at his innards. He didn't deserve that look. Most Yetis didn't like him and for good reason - he was annoying; a coward; quick to think of self over others. Even the S.E.S., despite welcoming him into their club, admitted that he was pretty horrible sometimes. Not that it bothered him much. He knew he could be a bit of a pill and just accepted it as such.

No. He didn't blame the others for how they saw him, yet it didn't pull him away from his hiding spots any less. He never was much of a people person to begin with, and solitude was far more cathartic than anyone gave it credit, but then why did he feel so lonely? Why did he always try to compensate for lack of attention in the most unpleasant ways possible? Why was he like this?

He snapped out of his thoughts to glance back at Soozie. She was still staring at him, waiting for... what? An answer? What was he to say? "Thank you"?

"Uhh... thanks..," came his weak reply. It was a pitiful attempt, but he supposed he owed her at least that. Hardly anyone ever actually said that they worried about him; that they cared.

"You're welcome," she smiled back.

He didn't return the smile at first, not even after she jumped up and, quite out of nowhere, hugged him.

"You gonna come to the ice race?" she asked.

"The... w-what?" Fleem stumbled, still a little taken aback by the hug.

"We're having an ice race at my school today!"

Out from one of her poofy pigtails she pulled a very light, thin slab of rock and handed it to him. He took it. It had the name 'Fleem' scratched out on it.

"We're allowed one guest and you're mine, so you better show up," she said, only half-joking.

An ominous rumble made them both gaze off into the distance. Foreboding clouds painted the distant sky black. It looked as though a storm was coming, and coming fast.

"I gotta go. My mom's gonna be mad. See ya'!"

Off she went, racing to the edge where she'd ascended with utmost haste. She disappeared for only a second before her head popped back up again.

"Don't be late!"

And just like that, she was gone. Fleem stared after her as she went, finally looking away to stare once more at the invitation. Despite himself, he smiled.

 ** _November 15 - The Day of "The Incident"_**

Fleem shut his eyes and shut them tight. It was a stupid move, but he did it anyway. He was running, running faster than he'd ever run before. Other Yetis, young and old, barely managed to keep up with his pace, but he could hear their screams, their yells, their shouts to run faster, _faster_...

 _Stupid. So stupid._

It was ridiculous that such a thing had happened, and to their mountain no less. Storms were unwelcome, but not unusual. Fleem had seen his fair share of lightning and thunder in the short little life that he'd lived. There was nothing uncommon about the occasional snowstorm, and he'd been an observer of some pretty bad ones, but this? This was... different. For one thing, the main course of rumblings and flashes had come with a side of earthquakes. For another, the pick-up of snow and sleet, already thick enough in the intense winds to practically obscure everyone's vision, had graduated to hail. Two structures in the village were destroyed and Dorgle now had a broken leg for a souvenir. More incidents would have surely befell them had they not left.

Kathmandu had already evacuated, Percy and Brenda being two of the few whom had absolutely insisted on staying despite the risk, the sole remainder of the humans amongst a sea of Yeti holed up in a cave at the base of the mountain. It was an emergency hide-out of sorts, far enough down and out of the way to serve as a reliable source of cover in case of an avalanche, though perhaps not the safest in an earthquake situation.

It was this cave that Fleem ran into now, taking a spot in the back to slump against the wall and catch his breath. He wouldn't be surprised if he passed out from lack of air, he'd been panting so hard. Always the fastest in an emergency. That was him. If he was gonna die it was going to be from hyperventilation and most certainly _not_ from a natural disaster. At least he could somewhat control how much he panicked.

Having swallowed several buckets full of crisp, refreshing air, Fleem took a moment to take in the scene:

The cave was filled to the brim with Yetis from the village, which was saying something taking into account the size of the place. Migo was tending to his father's broken leg, Percy at his side with a first aid kit. Meechee, always the compassionate soul, wasted no time in checking in on every Yeti in the vicinity, bringing them water, victuals, and anything else they'd managed to salvage from the villages. Kolka and Gwangi were doing their best to entertain and console the children, and Brenda was assisting Meechee. It was rather heartwarming, the fervency with which everyone came together in time of need.

And him? He was sitting in a distant corner... alone. Better to be as far away from the danger and distress as possible. Besides, everyone else was doing such a bang up job of aiding others that he figured they wouldn't really need his help anyway. Fine by him. He never was a people person.

A shadow appeared over him. He looked up.

"Hey, Fleem. You okay?"

It was Kolka, of all people. The one most annoyed by him was the first one to check in on him. The irony.

"Yeah..," he lied.

"It's pretty crazy, right?" she sighed, taking a spot beside him. "I can't believe we had to evacuate like this. I mean, I've seen some pretty bad storms before, but this is... insane."

"Yeah. Insane."

"I really hope everyone will be able to move back in. Guess we'll have to rebuild the S.E.S. headquarters, huh? Not that we need it now or anything."

"I kinda liked it... I miss my cot."

"Heh. Yeah. I miss the snails."

As she said it, a fuzzy, orange, luminescent snail crawled up her back and over her shoulder. She smiled and tickled it.

"At least we were able to bring a couple with us."

"Hey, Kolka...?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think I'm a..."

But the last word stuck to his tongue. He cursed himself privately. _Come on. Just say it._

"... a jerk?"

Kolka frowned a little, but didn't answer immediately.

"Why would you say that?"

"I dunno. I know I'm not the most... 'fuzzy' person. All you guys are so good at helping people and I'm just... not really that. And I don't know why."

There was a pause as he mulled all this over. The entire time he refused to look Kolka in the eye.

"I'm sorry I'm..," he gulped. "I'm sorry I'm me..."

Kolka stared at him. Surprisingly, a smile lit up her face. She sighed and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Fleem, just because you're not the 'fuzziest' person doesn't mean that we don't care about you. Okay, you can be a little annoying, yeah, and _maybe_ you might want to think about what you say before you say it, but... I don't think you're a jerk. At least not a total one," she nipped playfully, bumping his arm.

"I'm not a people person," he dragged, still not entirely convinced.

"I'm not either. S.E.S. helped break me out of my shell a little bit, but I still value my alone time too, ya' know. Didn't stop me from advocating for you, though."

That made him look up.

" _You_ were the one to vouch for me..?"

"Yup. A seriously grave error on my part, mind you. If I'd known you were gonna tease me so much I probably would have had second thoughts," Kolka joked. "Seriously, though, I told Meechee myself that we should invite you. I think you kinda needed some friends anyway."

"You... consider me a friend?"

"Well, duh. I didn't come over here to stare at the snow, dude. Are we really that serious?"

Fleem's mouth twitched stubbornly in a would-be smile. They cared about him. Actually cared about him. Perhaps he really had been overthinking things.

A distant call of distress snapped them both to attention as a panicked figure wove through the crowd.

"Soozie! Soozie, answer me, sweet heart!"

Kolka and Meechee answered the call almost simultaneously, both stopping in front of the worried mother.

"What's wrong, Purna?" Meechee asked.

"Well, I... I thought I brought her with me, but I've been looking everywhere and can't find her!"

"Did you try the human village?" Kolka offered helpfully.

Purna shook her head.

"I don't see any reason why she'd go there. All the bunkers are closed off."

"Did she mention anything before you left?" asked Meechee.

"Um... Well, she did mention something about... Oh, what was it...? School. Yes, she wanted to bring something from the school."

Purna's eyes grew wide as realization dawned on her.

"Oh, Meechee... You don't think she's...?"

"She's still up there?" Kolka finished Purna's thought as all three Yetis slowly turned on the spot to stare out the entrance to the cave. There was no way...

Unable to kick back his curiosity any longer, Fleem pulled himself up from his sitting position and stepped up to the party of three.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Soozie's in the village," said Kolka.

"Oh. Well, she's probably in the... bucket...? Bunker? Whatever it's calle-"

"The _Yeti village_ , Fleem," Kolka emphasized, cutting him short.

"Oh..."

"I need to go find her," insisted Purna, but Meechee held her back.

"Even with a companion it would be too dangerous. You need a search party."

"I don't know if we can spare even that, guys," Migo said, stepping up. Obviously, he'd been listening in. "Half of the clan is exhausted from the trip and most of the others are too scared to even leave the cave."

"We can't just leave her up there," Kolka countered.

"What's going on?" asked Brenda, Percy in tow.

Like snow blowing through the pines, the news of Soozie's disappearance traveled swiftly and stuck fast. Soon, the entire cave was ripe with chatter. Questions poured in and out. Who should go? How would a rescue attempt be carried out? Was it even safe to send anyone up the mountain at this point...?

Fleem heard none of it. He was standing at the entrance to the cave, looking up into the deep abyss of wind, snow, and mist where, somewhere, there lay their home in the mountains. Soozie was up there. Alone. She could be hurt. She could be dying...

He looked back at the tangled mess of Yetis that fussed over what should be done. Why didn't anyone just... go up and get her? What were they all waiting for?

A conversation, three days old at its peak, floated suddenly into his head as if in response to the situation. He could replay it as clearly as if he was back on that precipice near the village.

 _"But don't you think they'll worry about you?"_

 _"Nobody worries about me..."_

 _"I do."_

He stared up at what he could not see, but what he knew was there. He could almost hear her reply. It was calling him; pulling him...

He didn't realize he was running until the full blast of the storm hit him some ten feet up the mountain. Kolka's shouts to return chased him, slapped him, bit at him, but he heeded them not. He just kept running. He had to.

The gong was ringing, yet there was no sun to be seen. Its once stable foundations, unsettled by the rumbling of the earth in all its frustration, teetered on a narrow precipice, every threat of its dismantlement certain to transpire at any moment. Structures lay in ruins throughout the village, some shattered by rocks, others upended at their base by the earthquake. Remnants of a panicked exodus manifested itself in the form of dropped sacks, frenzied tracks in the snow, and the occasional tuft of fur caught on the edge of the surrounding wall. What had once been a thriving community had been reduced to a pile of stones and rubbish in a matter of hours.

A booming hail of thunder was quickly answered by a flash of lightning. It rent the scalded atmosphere, like a curtain ripped in two, and lit up the frightened eyes of a frozen and terrified Soozie. It had occurred to her some minutes ago that hiding in her family's house was, perhaps, not exactly the best option. Some of the homes had already caved in or had their entrances blocked from the outside. It was only a matter of time before hers suffered the same fate.

 _Easier said than done_ , she thought. There was no way she'd reach the bottom of the mountain at this point, not without the risk of losing what she'd come back here to get at any rate, but perhaps there was an alternative? As she sat huddled against the wall of her house, wide-eyed at the desolation taking place right in front of her, she scanned about for a more secure location.

Migo's tower? Pretty much destroyed at this point, and going higher up didn't improve her odds.

The school? Oh, that's right. A boulder had fallen on top of it.

The Stonekeeper's cave...? Now that was an idea. It went deep into the cliffs, had tons of rooms to hide in, and was one of the few areas without a blocked entrance... currently. That would have to do.

"Okay, Soozie. You can do this. You just gotta make a run for it," she muttered, steeling herself up for the inevitable. She'd have to sprint it and be darn quick about it, too. Rocks were still falling. Any one of them could hit her.

She took several quick breaths - _in, out, in, out, in, out_ \- and shuffled her feet into position, hand clutched tight on her trinket. Thunder growled again, closer this time. It was now or never.

Out she sprinted, running as fast as her little legs could carry her, dodging a broken house here, a boulder there, running and running and running, faster and faster and faster!

She reeled back as a flash of lightning struck a geode near her feet, scattering it into a thousand colors of ruby, jade, and turquoise. She would have considered it rather beautiful to watch if she hadn't almost been killed in the process. Not without some effort, she pulled herself back onto her feet, panting in shock at the near-death experience as she practically flew towards the Stonekeeper's cave. Just a little bit further...!

She made it, and not a moment too soon. A boulder smashed down where she'd been standing just seconds before. It might as well have caused an earthquake of its own, the impact of it was so intense. Soozie ran into the cave a little ways, bothering to look back at the wreckage for only a moment before taking the path that led deeper and deeper into its mouth...

Fleem didn't even realize that he was at the entrance to the village until he was literally right outside of it. The snow and fog had allowed him only ten feet of vision at most the entire climb up. Even worse, when he stepped up to the opening, he noticed that there were several large boulders blocking enough of the pathway as to make an easy walk through impossible. There was nothing for it but to climb up and over.

 _Stupid_.., Fleem thought to himself again. All of this was nuts. Kolka had said it best: Insane. "You're gonna get yourself killed!" she'd yelled as he foolishly plunged into his rash decision. She was probably right. Whatever. Whether he died or not, that wasn't the point.

Fleem clapped his hands together.

"All right. Let's do this."

Up and over. Up and over.

"Stupid rocks. Stupid... snow. Ahh. Phew... I need to work out..."

He made it. Or did he? As he landed at the base of the rocks, his jaw dropped. Nearly everything was destroyed. It looked as though a tornado had taken a joyride through the village. If anything was still standing it certainly wasn't going to be much longer. The only somewhat-intact structure was the Stonekeeper's cave, and even that had a sizeable boulder chilling out at the entrance. He sincerely hoped that Soozie wasn't underneath one of these rocks...

"Soozie!" he called out. Could she even hear him in this din? "SOOOOZIEEE!"

Nothing.

Frantically, he checked the likely places she might be. But there was no Soozie at her house, no Soozie near the school (but of course she wasn't...), no Soozie anywhere. The only other residence that seemed even remotely suitable as a hiding spot was standing right in front of him. Taking a deep breath, he ran into the Stonekeeper's cave.

Fleem rubbed his arms, partially due to the cold, partially out of nerves. He'd never done anything this reckless before. That time he'd replaced Kolka's pillow with a bag of _Pardosa bernensis_ didn't even come _close_ to this. He was gonna die. He just knew it. 'Here lies Fleem. He died doing the stupidest thing any of us have ever done.'

"Soozie! SOOZIE, are you in here?!"

Still nothing.

"SOOZIEEEEEE!"

Had she really gone that far back into the caves? Only one way to find out.

He plunged into its depths, rounding corners and taking steep stairs that led, he knew, into the heart of their history. All had been exposed at this point, of course, but he still couldn't help but pause to look once more upon the incredible paintings, structures, and engravings that catalogued what had led to their living atop this mountain in the first place. It was impressive, the amount of work put in by their ancestors to erase what had been written. Insane.

Pulling himself away from a particularly intricate painting, he wandered further into the cave, right to the very end where the huge, Yeti-powered mechanism that once formed a massive cover of clouds around their mountain lay dormant and abandoned. The thing was huge. Impressive. So very impressive...

 _Sniff._

What was that?

Fleem turned in the direction of the noise, to a corner of the room hidden in shadow. He walked towards it; rounded a corner...

"Soozie...?"

There she was, hugging her legs for emotional support, one hand clasped tightly about something that he couldn't see. She gasped at his appearance, jumped up, and FLUNG herself into his arms, burying her face in his fur. He toppled over, the force of her hug landing him, _hard_ , onto the ground. He bit his lip to prevent himself from yelling in pain into her face.

"Mmmmmmm...!" he moaned. Gosh, that hurt...

"Oh! Eheh. Sorry..!" Soozie gasped, reeling back and smiling apologetically. She offered a hand to help him up, which he accepted, rubbing his butt as he stood.

"I thought everybody went back down the mountain?" she asked, confused. "Did you get stuck, too?"

"No, I... came up here to get you."

"Oh. Is my mom okay?"

"She's fine, but they're worried as heck about you, kid. What are you doing up here?"

"I forgot to get this."

And lifting up her palm she showed him several very round, very pretty-looking rocks, or perhaps not so much rocks as pieces that had been meticulously cut from a geode or crystal and smoothed out. They were handsome little things.

"They're for my mom. I worked a long time on them."

"You came all the way up here... for a _rock_?"

"It's for my mom!" she retorted, frowning indignantly.

"Kid, I almost _died_ getting up here."

"You always say that," she countered.

He was about to argue back when the ground began to shake beneath them. Another earthquake? Sure enough, a split in the stone floor broke through to snake its way towards their feet at an alarmingly fast rate.

"RUN!" Fleem screamed, heading in the only opening available to them.

At the very back of the cave was a large opening in the wall. It looked out onto the vast expanse of cliffs and land below... and it also went straight down. The two diminutives stopped right at the edge. It would be foolish to jump. They looked back. A large chunk of ceiling had broken off to SMASH into pieces just feet from them, and the crack in the floor was continuing to weave its merry way in their direction. It would be foolish _not_ to jump.

"Uhhhh... Crap... Hold on tight, kid!"

Jumping up and onto his shoulders, Soozie grabbed hold about Fleem's neck just as he closed his eyes and plunged off the edge.

Soozie screamed. Fleem screamed louder. This was not cool. This was NOT cool...

They landed with a _**PLOP**_ in the snow some fifty feet below, leaving behind a perfect impression of their silhouette. Fleem was surprised it hadn't been a longer fall, and as he popped his head out of their little self-made hole he quickly made to scramble out, helping Soozie immediately after.

"We gotta go," he said, pulling her rather roughly in his wake.

There was an urgency in his voice that had nothing to do with the thunder, or the lightning, or the storm. Upon their landing, he had heard it: the sound of heavy white blankets shifting in their slumber; the unmistakable warning to run.

"Mr. Fleem, I can't keep up!" Soozie yelled, losing a hold of his grasp as she fell back into the snow. Fleem stopped immediately, ran back, and plopped her up onto his shoulders once more.

"Soozie, whatever you do, DON'T let go."

"Okay..," she obeyed. _She'd better if she's going to survive this_ , Fleem thought.

Running to the nearest tree, he ripped off a sizeable slab of hard bark and began racing down the hill with it. It wasn't the sturdiest wood, but it would have to do. Once he'd gathered enough speed, he jumped onto the bark, taking a kneeling position with both hands firmly clasped onto the sides of the makeshift snowboard. They'd have to really kick up some snow to outstrip what was coming. At least Soozie provided some much-needed weight.

Leaning down as far as he could, with Soozie handing on tight, they began to pick up more speed, weaving this way and that between the trees as a steady rumble grew louder and louder behind them. They didn't want to look back, they couldn't afford to look back, but they had to...

Soozie _gasped_. Fleem could only stare, wide-eyed. _Oh my gosh_...

It seemed as if the entire mountain had broken free of its suffering and was tumbling downwards with the utmost ferocity, determined to swallow them whole. And consumed they would be if they failed to reach the base.

"Watch out!" Soozie yelped. Fleem swiveled back around just in time to see a tree coming towards them. He veered sharply left, barely grazing the giant spruce as they continued to plunge ever downward. Soozie kept look back. Whole pines were being eaten alive by the oncoming hoard of snow. An occasional squirrel or fox tried to avoid the inevitable, their failure nothing more than another unfortunate speck of dust in the whirlwind that consumed all in its path. It was amazing... and terrifying.

Fleem was keeping his eyes peeled for the cave at the bottom. He knew they must be close. He looked back. Not dang close enough.

"Mr. Fleem?!" Soozie cried. Was it just Fleem's imagination or was she slipping?

"WHAT?!"

"I can't hold on!"

Sure enough, she was slipping.

"Both hands, man! Both hands!"

"I can't! Mom's present!"

 _Those darn rocks..._

"Drop them!" he yelled at her.

"But it-"

"DROP THEM!"

A pause.

Fleem felt a little tug as Soozie flung out her arm behind her for a spell before grabbing back onto him with both hands. She said nothing. It took him a few seconds before he realized that she was crying. An entire mountain was trying to kill them and she was worried about the rocks? Kids were incredible.

He rolled his eyes and peeled his eyes for a sign of a crevice... a peak... a rock... _Anything_. And suddenly, almost as if he'd wished it out of thin air, there it was, looming in the distance: the base. He almost yelped aloud in ecstasy. About dang time! He looked behind him. _Oh..._

The avalanche was literally almost at their toes. They were only just going to make it. Well... she was. He made his decision in a matter of seconds, for that was all the time he had.

"KOLKA!" Fleem yelled. "KOLKAAAA! MEECHEE!"

They heard him. God bless 'em, they heard him. Kolka and Meechee appeared at the entrance. Even from here he could tell they were relieved to see them.

"FLEEM!" Kolka shouted.

He pointed with urgency at Soozie on his back, hoping she would understand. Her face dropped. Fleem looked behind him.

"Kid, gimme your hand!"

"Why?!"

"Just do it!"

But Soozie wasn't fooled.

"You too!"

"Not me! There's only time for you!"

"No way! I'm not doing it!"

 _Stupid kid._ They were running out of time. He had to do everything. He grabbed her by the hand.

"Wait..!" she protested, but it was no use.

Kolka, you'd better catch her...

As they sped by the entrance to the base, Fleem threw Soozie at Kolka with all his might. She caught her... and not a moment too soon. It wasn't a second, maybe two, after he'd passed the base that the avalanche overtime him, and he was plunged into a world of nothingness.

He couldn't see, he couldn't think, he couldn't breath. The last thing he'd ever lay eyes on would be an endless blanket of white. _Whatever_ , he thought. That wasn't the important thing...

"FLEEM!" Kolka yelled. "Fleem..!"

But no one answered her call.

An hour had passed since the avalanche concluded its deadly descent, finally stopping about a third of the way into the human village below. It had taken everyone in the emergency base forty minutes just to dig their way out of the aftermath, even thought only a small portion of it had spilled into the cave. When they finally emerged, it was a different world.

Aside from all the snow, one might never had known that there had ever been a storm in the first place - the skies were clear as day, with only a few lingering clouds remaining as evidence that anything had happened at all, and the wind had died down significantly. Part of the town, of course, was completely covered, and the Yeti village at the peak would require some major renovation, but, aside from that, all was peaceful. And quiet. A little too quiet. It was rather eerie.

"FLEEM! Fleem, answer me, man!" Kolka hollered again, undeterred.

Meechee, Gwangi, Purna, and Migo were searching too, with Soozie checking behind still-standing trees, while the rest of the troop took in the decimation. Soozie searched with fervor, but no one was more determined to find their lost member than Kolka. She overlooked nothing and, sure enough, she was the first to see the bark.

The very tip of it was sticking up out of the snow near a small cluster of trees, and she pulled with all her might to reveal... nothing. She looked down. The area was caked with snow, just like every other part of the mountain. She swallowed hard... and started digging.

Gwangi and Migo soon caught on to what Kolka was doing, rushing over to assist. No one said a word. They just kept digging... and digging... and digging. And sure enough...

Kolka paused to look at the others for a moment, before directing her gaze back at where they'd dug. Slowly, carefully, she reached down.

Soozie, Purna, and Meechee jogged over just then, stopping quite abruptly as they reached the small group.

Kolka was holding Fleem in her arms. He looked as peaceful as if he'd fallen asleep right then and there in the snow. But she knew better than to think that. They all did.

"Fleem, you idiot...," Kolka choked, her mutter barely audible.

Soozie simply stared. Half a minute passed. Without a word, she walked up to her friend. Yes, she'd considered him a friend. It would have made no sense to him, perhaps, and he probably hadn't seen her the same way, but that didn't matter to her. She looked up into Kolka's eyes, which mirrored her own: watery. Then, in one movement, she stepped forward and hugged her friend.

No one had anything to say. They only wanted to give: give a last hug to their friend; embrace each other. Kolka's arms shook slightly as she held what had once been an annoying little Yeti in her arms. It was... surreal. Of all their number who could have suffered a casualty, it was the one least likely to put himself in danger. What in the world had happened to make him do something like this - to change?

Soozie didn't want to let go. Kolka sighed. She pitied the kid, but they couldn't bury her with him either.

"Soozie... We have to let him go...," Kolka whispered.

The little Yeti shook her head wordlessly, tears falling into his cold fur. Young as she was, she felt, to some degree, that she'd caused this. If she hadn't gone back for the rocks...

"Soozie, it's not your fault," said Kolka comfortingly.

But she shook her head all the more, holding onto Fleem as if her life depended on it... for it had. An arm wrapped around her. She appreciated Kolka trying to console her, but it wasn't going to bring him back.

Someone gasped. Several Yetis did, actually. Soozie was curious as to what was going on, but refused to let go. And neither, it seemed, did he. Wait...

She pulled back a touch. His eyes were still closed, but he was breathing... He was breathing! And he was hugging her! Soozie hugged him back with renewed vigor. Kolka gaped at the scene. So did everyone else. Then she broke into a wide smile... and laughed.

That did it. He opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the sky... then Soozie... then Kolka. He looked quite confused.

"Am I dead?" he asked blankly.

"You were!" Soozie laughed, hugging him again.

He directed his questioning gaze back to Kolka.

"What happened...?" came his weak inquiry.

Kolka didn't say a word. Perhaps it was because her cheeks were hurting from smiling so much. All she could do was hug him. He returned it... _tightly_.

Gwangi, Migo, and the others all breathed a sigh of relief. Purna joined her daughter, kneeling down beside Fleem as he slowly sat up. She took his hand.

"Thank you. Thank you for saving my daughter."

"No sweat...," he smiled.

"I'm not even gonna question how you survived that," Kolka joked.

"I would," Gwangi said, but his tone was light.

"Don't ever scare me like that again, man," she said.

"Can't make any promises," Fleem smirked.

Slowly, the little group got up and made their way back to the troop, Soozie holding Fleem's hand the entire time.

 ** _December 31 - Over a Month After "The Incident"_**

Nothing was ever the same. Both villages had been restored to some state of "liveability". There was still a lot of work to be done, especially for the Yetis, but no one was alone in their tasks. Everyone, snowman and human alike, had joined forces to help rebuild each other's homes and lives. In many respects, the days went on as they always had. But for two in particular, life had quite changed...

Soozie gave herself a little extra push as she reached the top of the ledge. She'd gotten quite good at it over the last few weeks. Forty feet up wasn't as bad as she'd thought. Making sure not to upend the little backpack she was carrying, she skipped over to the edge of the precipice and plopped down next to Fleem.

"Here ya' go. One decough aaaaand... one hot chocolate," Soozie said cheerfully, handing Fleem a tumbler of the former and keeping the latter for herself.

Hot chocolate. It was some kind of sweet drink that the humans were really fond of. Soozie liked it, too; had become kind of obsessed with it, in fact.

"It's de _caf_ ," Fleem corrected her, smirking.

"Whatever," Soozie playfully nipped back.

They both took a sip of their respective drinks. It was a beautiful day out.

"Think we'll see a rainbow today?" Soozie asked hopefully.

"Maybe."

"I want to see two."

"No such thing."

"You're so funny," she chuckled.

"Hey, Fleem?"

"Hm?"

"Are you my friend?"

He smiled and shuffled close to her.

"Yeah."

Soozie wrapped an arm around him, leaning her head against his side. The sun was rising, and they were the only ones watching.

 **THE END**

* * *

 **Ending Notes** :

I never intended for the story to get this long, but it kind of spoke for itself as I was writing it. Stories tend to do that, I think. Originally, I was just gonna kill Fleem off, but I wanted to tie the ending together better than that.

Soozie asking Fleem, "Are you my friend?" is a nod to my late uncle. He used to always say, "Are you my friend?". He was my favorite. I miss him a lot.


End file.
